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My Road Trip First Aid Kit

In honor of our marathon 8 game, 7 city, 16 day road trip, I thought it would be fun to give you all a peek inside my actual travel bag. When it comes to layovers, overnight bus rides, WiFi-less hotel rooms and crying babies in seat 20F, this is the first place I turn. Even though I like to think my bag contains all that I need, there is always some extra space for acquisitions along the way. If I am lucky, someday my bag will rival that of All First Team Travel Bag MVP and my personal travel bag hero, Steve Wozniak. Let’s dive in.

A.) It all starts with the bag. Sadly, backpacks were not a part of my rookie year Nike Adidas Christmas. No matter. Now I do not need to “forget” my team issued bag each road trip. In all my years at Stanford, this is tied for my favorite issued backpack; the other is boxed away in an attic somewhere. Not too many zippers. Not too many hidden pockets. Functional simplicity.

B.) Always keep track of your per diem. Always.

C.) If you cannot tell from the pic, let me officially profess my love for tech and consumer electronics. Enter, black ice Nike+ Fuel Band. I wear it everywhere except in games (not allowed) and in the shower (I would rather not test its water resistance). It is a great way to challenge yourself daily and track your physical activity. Always on hand wrist to collect Fuel points on those long, cross terminal walks.

D.) I have my phone. I have my Fuel Band. Sure. But there’s something about a dedicated wristwatch—especially when it is black and volt green.

E.) This is none other than my personal massage station. On the road, we spend quite a bit of time folded in economy class middle seats and cramped on shuttle buses from hotel to hotel. In the travel shuffle, there is always a kink or knot to work out along the way. With a lacrosse ball you can easily target heels, calves, hips, and if you are brave, IT bands. Best of all, you can use it anywhere you can find space to sit down. When there are no seats left at your boarding gate, have no shame sitting on the ground. Think of it as an opportunity to get a massage.

H.) When I first bought my iPad, I thought it would completely replace my MacBook Pro especially after I graduated. Not quite. While traveling, I use my iPad for watching movies, reading books, drawing (with SketchBook Pro) and satisfying my FIFA 13 addiction. I also keep a few of my favorite albums on hand. Battery life and portability make it my go-to media device when on the road.

I.) I can not travel without music. I always have access to my entire music library courtesy of my 80GB iPod Classic. Sometimes you just have to listen to that one song. In a crunch—courtesy of a few settings adjustments—it also doubles as an emergency portable hard drive.

J.) My iPod Classic is actually my secondary music device. I keep my favorite albums and new library additions on my 8GB iPod Nano. My everyday iPod is small, light and best of all, has a built-on clip.

K.) Rendered useless as soon as I discovered Apple’s Remote application in the App Store. This remote still gets some burn in those rare, WiFi-less hotel rooms.

L.) Combined with Sketchbook Pro, this stylus is every pen, pencil, eraser, marker, and paintbrush in my art toolbox at home.

M.) Long flights and long bus rides require greater ambient noise reduction. When the priority is sleep, my Beats By Dre Solos are an easy choice (even though I still miss my Sennheiser HD280s that did not make the trip to Boise). I think the block S on the Solos make up for any weaknesses in sound quality.

N.) Yes it protects the Solos, but it also stores the iPods and supplementary earbud headphones when they are not in use. Very handy.

O.) My MacBook Pro serves as an electronics control center and go-to for workhorse applications like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. That’s right, the physical keyboard is alive and well; I’m not quite yet typing blog posts on my iPad. This is also the hub for all quick media transfers between devices… until Apple adds Finder and a USB friendly adapter to the iPad.

P.) Trying to see how fast I can collect 500GB of movies and TV shows. RedBox and my new Big Bang Theory addiction should help.

Q.) I thought the whole Johnny Ive redesign was all a marketing ploy… it wasn’t. The earpods are my everyday, on-the-go headphones. They are also probably the best sounding “included in the box” headphones I have used. Two thumbs up for the built-in remote and microphone.

R.) Keep your electronics charged.

S.) Keep your electronics charged.

T.) No, really. You will not see another outlet until that layover in San Jose. It is going to be a long travel day. Keep your electronics charged.

U.) Just in case you get stuck next to a “talker”.

V.) Even though I have a copy of the entire Bible on my iPad, I keep this physical copy of Psalms and Proverbs that was given to me one afternoon in White Plaza. Proverbs is one of my favorite books in the Bible and I often like to shut my eyes and open to a random verse for some wisdom from above.